80,000 Suspects
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''80,000 Suspects'' is a 1963 British
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
film directed and written by
Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer Film Productions, ...
and starring
Claire Bloom Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles on stage and screen and has received two BAFTA Awards and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award an ...
, Richard Johnson, Yolande Donlan and Cyril Cusack. It is based on the 1957 novel ''Pillars of Midnight'' by Elleston Trevor. An outbreak of smallpox in
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
, England leads to a race to contain the virus. The film was not released in the United States.


Plot

On New Year's Eve in the city of
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
, Dr. Steven Monks diagnoses a mystery patient with
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
and triggers a citywide quarantine to contain the outbreak. His commitment to the task is affected by the deterioration of his marriage following his clandestine affair with a family friend. His wife Julie becomes infected with the virus. The medical team gradually contains the outbreak until only one case remains, that of Ruth Preston, the woman with whom Monks had been having an affair and the wife of his close colleague Clifford. Ruth is traced to a deserted hotel where she is sheltering, lonely and desperately ill.


Cast

*
Claire Bloom Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles on stage and screen and has received two BAFTA Awards and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award an ...
as Julie Monks * Richard Johnson as Steven Monks * Yolande Donlan as Ruth Preston * Cyril Cusack as Father Maguire * Michael Goodliffe as Clifford Preston *
Mervyn Johns David Mervyn Johns (18 February 18996 September 1992) was a Welsh stage, film and television actor who became a fixture of British films during the Second World War. Johns appeared extensively on screen and stage with over 100 credits between 1 ...
as Buckridge * Kay Walsh as Matron * Norman Bird as Harold Davis *
Vanda Godsell Nancy Evelyn Orchard (Birth name, née Godsell, formally Selway; 17 November 1922 – ), known professionally as Vanda Godsell, was an English actress. With a career that spanned 46 years, she was best known for her role as Katie Heenan in the B ...
as Agnes Davis * Andrew Crawford as Dr. Ruddling *
Jill Curzon Jill Curzon is an English actress best known for her film and television appearances during the 1960s.Jill Curzon
at t ...
as Nurse Jill *
Ursula Howells Ursula Howells (17 September 1922 – 16 October 2005) was an English actress whose elegant presence kept her much in demand for roles in film and television. Life and career Howells was born in London, the daughter of composer Herbert Howells, ...
as Joanna Druten *
Basil Dignam Basil Dignam (24 October 1905 – 31 January 1979) was an English character actor. Basil Dignam was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. Before the acting, he tried many jobs, from a company clerk to a journalist. He acted on film and ...
as Medical Officer Boswell * Arthur Christiansen as Mr. Gracey *
Ray Barrett Raymond Charles Barrett (2 May 19278 September 2009) was an Australian actor. During the 1960s, he was a leading actor on British television, where he was best known for his appearances in '' The Troubleshooters'' (1965–1971). From the 1970s, ...
as Health Inspector Bennett *
Graham Moffatt Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was an English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as 'Albert': a plump cheekily insolent street-savvy ...
as Fat Man In Vaccination Line (uncredited)


Production

The film was shot on location in Bath, England and the city's population at the time inspired the name of the film.


Reception

''
The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' wrote: "A veneer of authenticity (Bath locations, queues for vaccination, hospital staff eternally hopping in and out of decontamination units) is effectively smothered by the collection of appallingly stock characters and situations. Richard Johnson and Claire Bloom mouth all those married-couple platitudes, about taking a long look at their marriage and being brought together by shared experiences as if they had only just been thought of; Yolande Donlan, as an unsatisfied wife given to drink and free love, oozes little girl charm and ends up, like Mrs. Danvers, in flames in Ye OId Dark House; Michael Goodliffe, as her hangdog husband, suffers expressionlessly; and Cyril Cusack, as the wryly humorous Catholic priest, nobly kisses a Protestant smallpox patient on the brow. Val Guest's (rather strained) flair for story-telling, and the Bath locations keep things more or less ticking over." '' Variety'' wrote: "Val Guest is successfully following his method of making pix that combine a documentary flavor with a fictional, human interest. This time the combo doesnt quite jell yet ''80,000 Suspects'' has a holding interest and is screened with a professional know-how that rarely flags. It hasn't the impact of his film ''
The Day The Earth Caught Fire ''The Day the Earth Caught Fire'' is a 1961 British science-fiction disaster film directed by Val Guest and starring Edward Judd, Leo McKern, and Janet Munro. It is one of the classic apocalyptic films of its era. The film opened at the Odeon Ma ...
'' 961 but nevertheless emerges as a worthy boxoffice entrant." ''
Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...
'' wrote: "Guest does his best to give both narrative threads equal weight, which proves engrossing up to a point, but the film flags appreciably when the outbreak element peaks too early; and the characterisation on the domestic front never quite delineates the couple's marital malaise with enough insight to make it something special. Still, as in '' Jigsaw'' 962 there's a definite sense that old moral certainties have become much more flexible – something Cyril Cusack's presence as a worldly priest makes clear – and Johnson, never the most nimble of performers, puts in a decent shift as the harassed medic realising that he's lost the ability to feel anything much at all."


References


External links

* * Original Clip from fil

''Retrieved 2010-03-11.'' * Opening scenes Clip from fil

''Retrieved 2010-03-11.'' * {{Val Guest 1963 films British drama films Films directed by Val Guest Films set in Bath, Somerset 1963 drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films Films scored by Stanley Black English-language drama films